I'm currently in Johannesburg, South Africa, and have had the opportunity to join the S.A. DGC for several rounds of disc golf. They're just a small handfull of folks down here sharing the same passion as we do, struggling to get the sport established. I plan to write an article on this for AceRunners, but here are my observations in a nutshell:

No one down here has heard of disc golf so there's no support for it. It's all about soccer, especially now with the World Cup in town.

Most of the players here are at the novice level, a few coming from an Ultimate Frisbee background.

Discs are twice as expensive here due to shipping costs.

The park they play in is beautiful, but the officials are not supportive, and the locals are spring loaded to whine about anything new.

There are no baskets in place (the club owns one homemade basket for putting practice). If baskets were installed, odds are they'd be vandalized or dissappear in a hurry.

Trees are marked as targets. Tee pads are natural grass.

Of 15 or so club members, 4 are women.

The club meets regularly at the park every weekend and often grills out between rounds.

They are every bit as passionate about disc golf as we are!

Bottom line: Don't take your Atlanta Disc Golf for granted! We have limitless options compaired to these folks!

Doesn't make me feel any better; just makes me feel sorry for them. We certainly enjoy the benefits of living in the country where the sport was invented, rather than an ocean and a hemisphere away, but it's not like we here in Georgia don't fight with unsupportive officials and hostile "locals" ourselves on occasion. They also have the advantage of a better gender ratio than we have Stateside. I'd LOVE to see us improve to a 3:1 male:female ratio!

Did they say whether there is anything your American friends could do to help them spread the gospel of disc golf to Africa, or at least to South Africa?

kelly, my buddy brian powell and his wife are moving to south africa this summer to teach for a few years.......i will send him this link. i know he's looked into it already, but maybe you could point him in a particular direction. BTW, just signed up for hotlanta....looking forward to my shoulder falling off!

Hi Flynn, Have Brian contact Brad Smith in Johannesburg at: breezair@polka.co.zaBrad is very enthusiastic about growing disc golf in South Africa and can hook Brian up with the local weekend action there at Royal Delta Park. I look forward to meeting you at Flyboy Aviation during Hotlanta. If you want to play my course beforehand, just let me know.ThanksKelly